


Where Words Leave Off

by pluperfecthell



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Headcanon, Introspection, Music, Musical References
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-06
Updated: 2016-12-06
Packaged: 2018-09-07 00:16:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 316
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8775610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pluperfecthell/pseuds/pluperfecthell
Summary: "Planning on being the next Jimmy Page, Commander?" Miranda learns something new about Shepard.





	

**Author's Note:**

> A short ficlet set some time in Mass Effect 2. Edited and reposted from my old Shepard ask blog.

She finds Shepard in, of all places, a music store, playing a few notes on a shiny acoustic guitar. “Planning on being the next Jimmy Page, Commander?” Miranda asks, voice dry and amused and only slightly disbelieving.

Shepard, in a rare display of discomposure, jerks in surprise, her hands stuttering a sour note on the guitar’s strings. Miranda raises an eyebrow. “You play?”

Shepard frowns. “Mindless slaughter isn’t all that I’m good at, Lawson,” she says, more to herself than to Miranda.

Shepard plucks a few more notes, then strums a few chords that, slowly but surely, turn into something that Miranda doesn’t recognize, and Miranda doesn’t claim to know much about music, but she knows enough to recognize that yes, Shepard _can_ play, and yes, Shepard _is_ good – _very_ good, in fact, and Miranda finds herself mesmerized by the commander’s long, calloused fingers – so accustomed to gripping the stock of a shotgun, or forcing out a biotic explosion from an unstable mass effect field – gracefully and elegantly coax out a soft, slow, melancholy melody.

Shepard stops, then, brusque and sharp. Her hand is clamping down hard on the guitar’s neck, its song abruptly and suddenly strangled into silence. Very carefully, Shepard places the guitar back on its stand. Miranda’s keen eyes notice Shepard’s hand lingering on the varnished wood for a moment longer than is probably necessary.

Shepard turns away, and the moment is already over as soon as it occurs. “Let’s get going. These armor and weapon mods aren’t going to purchase themselves. The Normandy could do with a few more upgrades, also.” Shepard says, all business and no nonsense, as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened at all. “We need to assume a worst-case scenario once we go through the Omega-4 Relay and plan from there.”

Miranda hesitates, just for a moment, before she nods in understanding. “Of course. Understood, Commander.”


End file.
